Friday, 19 June 2009

Theorbo, Chittarone, etc

Music from the 1600s is one of my favourite areas. Improvisation as found in Divisions and similar 'Medieval Jazz' (not my favourite term) is fascinating, particularly because it shows that there's nothing new, and that virtuosity has long been a good selling point.

Synthesizing real instruments can be tricky, but rewarding. But finding the right source material can be difficult. So I was very pleased to stumble across a very nice piece by Johann Kapsberger when it was played on Classic FM, the UK classical music FM radio station. Following up the air-play, I found this web-site:

http://www.guitar168.com/Kapsberger.htm

which contains a wealth of information on players, lutes and their cousin instruments like the theorbo, chittarone, etc. I do love the names of old instruments!